, 1887-02-23
DANGEROUS PLACES N pARIs.
Thr Cellars whore Thieves and Murder
ers Resort.

ers Resort.
50 we made up a party Of three, and.
between | and . In the morning we ar
riy.sl at the Central markets. We lift
them TO their dreams, and descended by
a naigow staircase into n series of vaults,
tie " 'itc,vashed ceilings of which were
onve..i with arabesqUcs and am writ
ten IN black with the smoke of II candle
In one part of these vaultsa group Of men
were drinking and singing parodics of
church hymns. This did not come up to
our expectations, so we went to LA Jeune
France a famous cellar, where n man
l..il been assass.natcd only u few nights
before. We passed through Il gnte, down
one flight of narrow stairs. then STOPPING
low. we passed under a narrow archway
reserved in the foundations OF the house,
then down another flight of stairs, then
through another nrchway, along u tortu-
Gus passage, and so to a tunnel about
seven feet high, five feet broad, and twenty
feet long The vault q tho roof was COW
cred with green trelliawork; there were
benches and rush stools to sit upon;
wooden tables bearing the marks OF strife;
and, TO light us, two gas jets. We were
here at the very end Of the mouse trap,
AMI we now understood why the police
never enter these ''cnvcaux'-there Is no
possibility Of a fair fight
When we entered the ''caveau' there
was nobody there, but after we had
ordered some wine two musicians came
in. Tho one was a miserabiy pale fellow,
half starved and half blind, with n thin
blonde mustache. He sang and accom-
panied himself by striking n few chords
on u guitar. The other was u short, bony
man, with "A black beard, drunken blue
ewes, round shoulders and an appearance
OF humility, as IL he were constantly nfraid
Of receiving kicks. He sang in turn,
drumming on a single bass chord7 The
tip given by some watcher soon brought
four other visitors-a burly rufiinn, who
wore n huge red fez rising eighteen inches
above his crown; u young man wearing n
thin cotton blouse and two others dressed
in cast off clothes OF fashionable cut, but
without n vestige of linen. The humble
musician sang, above all things, an air
from "Mignon," keeping his eyes fixed on
the ground rs he sang and pointing to his
heart with an awkward gesture whenever
the word s'heart' occurred In the ro-
nance. Suddenly, one after another, half
n dozen athletic, square shouldcrcd men,
varying In age from /. TO %, crept through
the narrow nrchway, passed rapidly in
without even CHANGING at our table and
mnssed themselves Mt the end OF tho vault,
lnliluI on inc DcDcnt3, fuOklUp ClEnTe'ieS
and drinking at our expense, for we
thought it only polite to offer these gentle
men u glass OF wine, the more so Us the
musicians were playing for our nmusc-
ment.
After "Mignon" the ruflan with the
red fez asked for the guitar, took n tuning
fork out Of his pocket, snapped ii with his
teeth, and tuned the instrument properly.
Then the rufian In the cotton blouse rose
end with fine voice, perfect sentiment, and
correct gesture, sang other airs from
'Mignon' and also from Carmen All
the ruffians listened In perfect silence TO
the singer, who was n real artist, md two
womcn who had joined the band melted
into tears at the end, one of them cxclaim-
ing: "Ah, musici When / heal 'Mignon'
| can't help 1t. cry like n calf The
scene appeared to be ldyllic rather than
~lii!andish and terrible. However, 1t up
pelred after after all that we might have
been in better company, for Mt u sign from
DE- winter | slipped out of the vault.
You hnd better give the word TO your
,firnds to come up stairs. The band IA
almost au complet, and il is the very band
that assassinated n man here last week.
Il their chief happens to come In you
might get In trouble" We did not wait
to he warned twice, but wished the gen
tlcmen good evening, and assembled the
staircase without undue precipitation, and
yet with q kind OF internal sensation OF
l-lpidity. Paris Cor. New York Sun.